X-Coaster riders spend 1/2-hour upside down

Intamin Fan

Sunday, June 10, 2007 4:13 PM

This was just posted to my Earthlink homepage that a power outage and Magic Spring and Crystal Falls caused several rides in the park to shutdown (although it didn't specify if all shutdown). No one was seriously hurt, although one person threw-up and another person complained of back and neck injuries and went to the hospital. This was an RSS feed, so I'm sure it'll be in the News section soon. *** Edited 6/10/2007 8:13:42 PM UTC by Intamin Fan***

DantheCoasterman

Fun

Sunday, June 10, 2007 8:05 PM

I chalk this one up to poor design... sure power outages happen, but the ride needs to have some sort of contingency plan for getting that train out of that spot, which it doesn't look like was the case.

Isca

Sunday, June 10, 2007 9:14 PM

I wonder how expensive it would be to havesome sort of battery power on that - or a generator nearby? Just long enough to power it enough to pull it over the top and send it back on it's circuit. If someone had a medical emergency from being upside down that long, imagine the lawsuits. (as if there will not be ones already)

Heck, it's not as if the generator couldn't be useful for other things. Generator could kick in automatically to supply power to the ride, then after the coaster is powered through and has been unloaded, have a maintenance person throw a switch to shuttle power over to park operations to power certain areas of the park, say the entrance area. Cheap insurance, I'll bet it would be cheaper than the lawsuit will be.

Richard Bannister

coasterqueenTRN

Mamoosh

Monday, June 11, 2007 11:13 AM

I've ridden it...it's an awesome ride, much more fun than it would appear from pics. The restraints are very comfortable as you are held upsidedown briefly at the top of the lift...a cool & odd experience. After disengaging from the lift you turn upright and the view of the surrounding hills is breathtakingly beautiful...and then you notice how high you are and that the track twists and disappears out of sight and you have a "holy crap" moment.

The train completes the inline twist and you drop thru the station and up the vertical lift but the train does not engage. Instead it freefalls backwards, rockets thru the station and back up the drop. Then you drop again thru the station and up the lift again. This time the train does engage and the lift slowly lowers you back into the station.

The very first time Mike [Bassistist] and I rode we made it thru the entire cycle up until the lift engages the second time. We started to lower back to the station and suddenly stopped, some 120-feet or so up. We were stuck there in the vertical position, sun in our eyes, for 15-20 mins while they waited for a maintenance guy to reset the ride so we could be lowered back down to the station.

The ride reopened and we rode a second time without problem however the next group of riders experienced the same problem. The ride was then closed for a few hours. We never got another ride that day.

tricktrack

To anyone who blames poor design from the manufacturer: You are WRONG!

Maurer Söhne has tested and offered four different ways to deal with power outages and/or the train getting stuck in various positions on the lift.

The situation Mamoosh described is the easiest solution: an emergency program, activated by pressing two buttons will lower the train back to the station.

There is a physical device to pull the train forward in case it gets stuck before or after the "dead-spot". Howerver these devices need a second, independent energy source. Gerstlauer says that every customer is aware of this.

They have also tested to evacuate the train in any degree of "stuckage". It is possible but its described by the manufacturer as the least safe and least convenient way to handle the situation.

So either the training of the employess was faulty or the park just failed to provide an independent energy source.

But anyway, a power outage in exactly the right/wrong second: How strange is that!? *** Edited 6/11/2007 7:38:59 PM UTC by tricktrack***